//------------------------------//
// -Passage of doubt- 
// Story: Shadow of my Own 
// by LightCode 
//------------------------------//


~~~


In a place far away, a divine alicorn cast her celestial spell.

The sun obeyed. Preparing itself to kindly ask the moon to pass her reign, it disappointedly realised that someone has been quite lazy: The night before has been dark, cold and moonless. Eager to finally shed some light on the world below, it was even more disappointed to learn that the lands to first see the morning’s gold were vastly empty as well. “What a waste!” the sun sighed and resumed its magical cycle. 

The world, however, wasn’t as innocent as it pretended to be. In fact, it did hide a little secret even from the sun itself: Cloaked in a snowy veil and kept away from anypony’s view, a mare was resting in what seemed to be an eternal slumber. 

Somewhere deep inside, her little heart was faintly beating. Yes, she was still alive, and probably the only living creature for miles around. 

Crawling through the thin layer of snow, the sunrays finally reached the mare’s eyelids and gently stroked them.

She woke up.

Wearily blinking, she stared in the whiteness shrouding her view. It took her a moment to gasp and rise sharply, shaking the snow off herself.


If anypony was to see her at this very moment, they’d probably mistake her for the mysterious snow princess herself. 

Astoundingly beautiful she sat there, her gorgeous mane leaving a trail of thousand glitters as she gracefully looked around. Her horn emitted a faint colour as the last patches of snow were cleaned away with a gentle magical touch, exposing her bright coat to the mildly warming sun above. There was no doubt she was a pony of high class, not destined for such oblivion. Yet there she was, lost and out of her place, just like most of her striving life. And just like always, she would have to overcome her anxiety, swallow her pride and rise up again, strong and ready to fight for a way out.

Or wouldn’t she?

Sadly, not even she could answer that anymore. Right now, she tried to keep a cool head, which, ironically enough, was quite an effort despite the chill circumstances; yet one single fact threatened to shatter her calmness once and for all. It was neither the unexplainable fact that she was still alive, nor the question of any further survival; neither the merciless cold, nor the lack of ideas for any source of food or water. All this was of secondary importance compared to what the mare had discovered, inferior in both size and significance.

As she heavily breathed, her pupils slowly followed each step of a gigantic rising stairway into the inner of the biggest mountain she's ever seen, a mountain that appeared out of nowhere and would lead her right there. 

The mare gulped nervously as her hoof hovered above the first step of hundreds, maybe thousands above.